Murdoc (Sewer Life/Asylum)
Murdoc is a giant saltwater crocodile. He is the main antagonist of the Sewer Life and Asylum story series, and is the archenemy of Alligator and his rat friends Arthur and Robby. He is a croc of gigantic size that is twice as long as Alligator and has lived inside the sewers for most of his life. He is currently more than 100 years old (110 years of age to be specific), yet still in his prime. He appears as a remorseless, pure evil man-killer who is occasionally partnered up with a Raven named Rave, but has been shown doing his dirty work all by himself. He appears to be a direct physical mirror to Alligator, but is different from him due to his darker green scales, a darker green underbelly instead of a lighter one, dark red eyes that can glow, teeth showing from both jaws instead of just his bottom jaw, and his doubled size. Appearance Murdoc is a gigantic dark green saltwater crocodile. His color scheme is noticeably nearly the same as, albeit darker shaded than, Alligator himself, with a darker green underbelly instead of a lighter one like what the Alligator possesses. His eyes are also a darker red color, but are capable of glowing brighter red colors in the dark. Like all crocodiles, his teeth from both jaws are exposed when his mouth is shut. His four short, stubby legs have four webbed toes, like all crocodiles, with small black claws. He is twice as long as Alligator, being a monstrous 48-foot crocodile while Alligator is 24 feet long. His overall appearance was meant to directly mirror that of Alligator, the only differences being his glowing darker eyes, darker green scales, darker green underbelly, doubled size, and tooth exposition. Personality Murdoc is an evil crocodile who feels no mercy or regret toward people and committing crimes against them. For instance, he delights in killing people for usually no apparent reason, and will also imprison them inside unknown areas after dragging them there, depriving them of food and water while also toying with them, even bragging about their insecurities and his own supposed greatness. He is also incredibly rude towards everyone around him, lacking any manners whatsoever and this is especially proven when he mocks people about their insecurities or repeating what they say without any qualms about it. Murdoc will also overfeed himself (his meals usually consisting of his fallen victims), completely disregarding how bad it may be for him, whether he is hungry or not. When his prisoners aside from the fact refuse to cooperate or negotiate with him, he will become very ruthless and violent, usually ending in bloodshed murders. While in most cases in which he is evil, however, it is mostly due to the events that occurred in his tragic past. During his younger years, he was a happy, polite, charming and (presumably) warm-hearted individual, until he got injured and was forced into medical care. While he was appreciative and grateful, he was also dismayed when he was taken all the way to Florida, extremely far away from his family. After he overheard the decision of zoo staff to permanently keep him there, however, he snapped, believing that this was unnecessary. After this happened, he became a villainous, destructive and psychotic mastermind who escaped captivity and forced his way into the sewers instead of following its law and selecting a specific location to reside in. This is made especially clear when he frequently hops from location to location all the time, and will viciously snarl and hiss at anyone who protests against him for his actions against them. His ruthlessness, however, proved to be his downfall. Background Early Life Murdoc was born on April 4, 1909 in Adelaide, Australia, where he and his extended family swam along the currents of the Adelaide River. There, he spent the first 20 years of his life swimming with his relatives in the River, before he got badly injured (how this happened is unknown) over his whole body. Shortly after he sustained his injuries, he was found by Florida zoo staff and was taken directly to Florida for medical care. While Murdoc was grateful for what was happening for him, he was dismayed that he was being taken so far away from his family for it. Staying in Captivity After arriving in Florida, the crocodile was instantly taken to the Local Animal Hospital in town, where he received aggressive treatments as a result of his injuries being very extensive and would have killed him had he not been found and received treatment. It took several weeks (hinting that he had multiple broken bones), but he finally healed after some time spent in the Hospital. After healing, he was taken away to a zoo and was to stay there for the rest of his life, out of fear that if he was released into the wild again, he would sustain the same injuries all over again. Murdoc believed completely otherwise, however, and instead of agreeing with the keepers (revealing his ability to speak to humans), he snapped and became evil. He escaped captivity not long afterward following this. As he did so, he proceeded to brutally decimate the keepers and the staff at the zoo, even eating several of them, before he walked through the front gates of the zoo and successfully escaping from it. Little else is known about Murdoc's life in captivity, other than that he apparently resided inside of a large glass tank filled with water and lived alongside two smaller female crocodiles. Moving Into the Sewers Shortly after escaping captivity, Murdoc tried to search for a new home around the entirety of the state of Florida, but everywhere he went, even including an old house in the bayou (which was as a matter of fact occupied), he was kicked out of them. He went everywhere from the actual Tampa Bay to another bayou full of water, but all the places were already filled with occupants, who were terrified of the crocodile at first sight. Even a great swamp monster Murdoc encountered had feared for his life in the merciless eyes of Murdoc. Murdoc would, over time, develop an intense hatred for everyone around him, which he was blinded by. Out of fury and anger, Murdoc eventually found a suitable home for him, the sewers in the hillside below a city. Instead of remembering the renowned law of the sewers (which stated that a character could only settle down into a specific area), he was blinded by rage and forced his way into the sewers, not giving any second thought about stalking the main tunnel area and eavesdropping on private conversations that other characters are having, completely unaware that they were being listened to. Despite Murdoc's immense displeasure and his ruthless crimes against those whom he felt wronged him, he was allowed to live in the sewers out of fear of his wrath. After moving into the sewers, Murdoc was able to settle into the sewers and live peacefully, eventually growing old after spending more than 80 years in the sewers. Eventually, in 1991 when the Alligator got flushed into the sewers, Murdoc followed him everywhere, looking to eat him, completely unbeknownst to Alligator, who managed to inadvertently evade attack over time. After the Alligator grew up, however, he finally found out that Murdoc was following him with bad intentions and the evil crocodile would continuously become a problem for him for years to come. In Asylum Murdoc appears as one of the many main villains in this story series, where he is partnered with a raven known as Rave. Rave and Murdoc have been friends ever since Rave was a child and Murdoc was 80 years old (only canon to this series), performing hunts together and have dragged down innocent people into the sewage to mercilessly kill them for no apparent reason. He has accomplished so many terrible things that everyone around him, people and animals alike, fear him greatly, disregarding the fact as to whether or not they live in the sewers or even in the entire asylum. In Sewer Life Murdoc is the main antagonist in this story series, where he is the archenemy of Alligator and a powerfully feared figure of not only the entire sewer community, but throughout all of Florida. Murdoc was seen with Eddie the water dragon in this series as opposed to being partnered up with Rave the raven. In fact, in this series it is implied that Murdoc does not at all like birds, as shown when he viciously snapped at a pair of them who were flying past him while he was inside the lake during the sewer backup. As Alligator was aiding a rescue team member in getting back to shore (who thought he was a person), the evil crocodile watched the scene with great unhappiness. Murdoc later eavesdrops on Alligator's conversation with a man and his son who are being given a tour of Alligator's section of the sewers, and lets out a devious laugh. Murdoc is eventually overthrown by Alligator when he catches him eavesdropping on a conversation of two more characters during his time fishing in his section of the sewers. Murdoc is, of course, confronted by the gator, and he instigates a duel, where the Alligator uses his brains over brawn to defeat the crocodile and cast him out of the sewers. Murdoc is furious, and declares that he will return to the sewers for revenge. He disappears into the lake below, and isn't seen again for some period of time. He would, however, appear again, but not alone. He would reunite with Eddie (a Chinese water dragon who was an old friend of his) and the two of them would become the leader of the Crocodile Crazy Greens group that they turned into an army that would aid them in attacking Alligator (who has united with his siblings who he just met as he never knew them during childhood). However, upon declaring war against the alligators, Murdoc was irritated when Eddie and a young crocodile on his head were arguing over who should've been there. Murdoc would lead the way into the war. He (as always) attempted to use brute force to destroy Alligator after their allies fought each other, but Alligator used his intelligence to outwit the crocodile. In the process, Alligator would end up brutally beating Murdoc up, badly injuring him (echoing his original injuries back in Adelaide). Murdoc would eventually be found in his injured state, albeit still alive, by an Animal Rescue Team, and taken into medical care. Instead of deciding to keep him in captivity due to how large and heavy he was, it was decided that Murdoc would be released into the wild again. After several weeks in an Animal Hospital, he made a full recovery. As he was being released, he thanked his caretakers (much to their shock), but had not changed his heart and viciously attacked his caretakers. After doing so, he rallied his minions and disappeared. Following his attack on the people who rescued him, there were no reported sightings of Murdoc anywhere in Tampa Bay. His henchmen were all gone with him. He reappeared again after 8 months; what happened during his absence remains unknown, but it is confirmed that he is vengeful against Alligator once more for what he had done to him. In an attempt to completely rid himself of Alligator for good, he recruits the Komodo dragon named Riptail, who sides with him, Eddie, and their army of crocodiles. However, he fails to complete this goal; Riptail is beaten and left to deal with Bog, whom he is attacked by, but he manages to escape safely. Murdoc is furious at his plan having failed, and goes to confront Alligator. While going after him, he decides instead to capture and imprison Alligator's new human friends Ray and Thomas inside a lower section of the sewers, depriving them of food and water. They remain trapped there until Alligator arrives to rescue them, and the resident human-hating alligator named Larry narrowly allows them to escape. Alligator later locates an explosive device, igniting it and sending Murdoc and his army flying. Later, a further-angered Murdoc manipulates Larry into helping him, but the alligator eventually realizes Murdoc's true colors and betrays him. With no other choice, Murdoc surrenders and leaves with his army following him. Murdoc decides to go to the lake, where he and his followers act casually when they are really watching young children playing in their backyard, getting close to the lake. Determined to kill at least one human, Murdoc launches out of the water and instigates an attack, causing the two children to panic. They are, of course, too quick for the crocodiles to eat them, and they are able to escape successfully, irritating Murdoc. Murdoc later recruits Riptail again following Larry's reconciliation with Ray and Thomas for what he had done to them earlier. Riptail is ordered to sneak behind Alligator and bite him in the tail, which would inject venom into his system that would cause him to bleed to death. However, due to efforts by one of his allies, he is able to recover from the venom's effects. Murdoc decides to create a forest fire that would prompt Alligator to go into the forest and rescue anyone in danger, and if the fire didn't kill him, Murdoc would. After a brief discussion with his minions, Murdoc's plan is set in motion. Of course, however, Alligator escapes the burning forest unharmed, leaving Murdoc even more enraged that his next plan failed. He rallies his army again, but unbeknownst to him, Alligator has rallied his own animal friends from the zoo and circus to help him in getting rid of Murdoc. Murdoc is continuously attacked and abused by the other animals, even calling Melosi the tiger a "Little Kitty" during the duel. Melosi does not take well to being called a "Little Kitty" at all, ending with the pompous Siberian tiger jumping on top of Murdoc's back and attempting to scratch him. However, Murdoc has a very high tolerance for pain and a nearly impenetrable hide, allowing him to attack the tiger in return and badly injure him. Before he can kill him, Ernesto the elephant grabs him by the tail using his trunk and throws him far away into the lake, where the giant crocodile swims away angrily. He is later brought to the lair of the good-natured Sewer Man, a humanoid crocodile, who demands reasoning for why he continues spreading fear and terror as far as he can. He also asks Murdoc as to whether he feels any remorse for his actions, but Murdoc insists that they both know that he does not, to the Sewer Man's fury. The Sewer Man then orders his double-crossing agent to let Murdoc go, Murdoc declaring that they aren't finished, and that he is only starting, before swimming off. Murdoc later stalks a pair of rowers in a lake after being nearly killed by Alligator via a gunshot to the face and attacks them. He later notices a conflict between Alligator and a gator hunter, who wants his skin. Murdoc, furious that his intended target would be killed by someone else other than himself, rushes in and attacks the hunter, snapping his rifle in half, to the hunter's horror. He tries to fight Murdoc, but he easily kills him. As he is eating, he realizes that Alligator got away from him. He also realizes that one of his closer followers, a hybrid crocodile named Killer, has been bound and gagged. He decides to find him and free him, but is quickly stopped by Arthur, who binds his mouth shut as well by tying thin strings around his jaws. However, as Murdoc struggles, he finally manages to snap off the strings using his jaw strength and reaches the sewers again, freeing Killer as soon as he catches sight of him. He goes to attack Alligator again, but he is allied with his brothers and sisters, as well as his friends from the zoo and circus. Once again, the duel is instigated; Murdoc is pummeled, Larry attacks him, and he is flung far, far away into a lake by the teenage elephant Morris, who threatens to do the same to his followers if they don't do after him themselves. Not wanting that to happen, the other crocodiles flee. Murdoc, meanwhile, has landed in the Bush Fields in a river, where he takes his anger out on a pair of rowers. He attacks them and pursues them to the top of a waterfall, which they fall off of. Riptail watches in utter dismay from the shore as Murdoc too falls over the edge of the waterfall, but fortunately for him, the giant crocodile survives the fall. In utter anger, he calls up to the top of the waterfall, declaring that he will come back again for vengeance, before swimming away. He is not seen again from here, but he is most likely alive, as there was never indication of a death having happened. He has been mentioned a few times more; for example, Alligator references Murdoc, albeit indirectly, when speaking with Arthur, Robby, and the Sewer Man. He later references the evil crocodile when he encounters an old, knowledgeable frog in the sewers after he had landed there, telling him that Murdoc was not going to come back any time soon. Murdoc does indeed return, however. He later returns and starts another war against Alligator and his allies, but he once again fails to kill him like all his other attempts. After witnessing all of his minions getting blown out of the sewers, he attacks Alligator, swearing to kill him for good. As he prepares to deliver the killing blow, however, Alligator punches him upward using his tail. He then repeatedly beats him with his tail, before he turns Murdoc onto his back. He then orders one of his followers (a rhino) to finish it all, and the rhinoceros does so right away. He gores Murdoc with his longer horn on the crocodile's lower jaw, seemingly killing him. Murdoc's body is then put on display in a local museum, also containing other extinct animals (even including a Tyrannosaurus life-like statue). Murdoc is among the many animals who is awakened from his taxidermied state by an unseen force that produces magical life-giving clouds. He finds out about the rule of the museum, that being to never leave once inside, but the huge crocodile doesn't listen, and decides to leave to get his revenge. The Tyrannosaurus (who was given life as well, including functioning bones and organs) is angered at this, and seeing that he is escaping, he chases after the evil reptile. However, Murdoc makes it into the sewers safely before the Tyrannosaurus can grab him. There, he spooks a group of sewer workers who are patrolling the sewers, and they seal him in. His minions all find out he is still alive, and immediately scramble toward the manhole he is trapped under to free him. Murdoc emerges, and leads the charge to attack not only Alligator, but the animals in the museum, seeing their potential to become some of Alligator's allies. Murdoc is, however, confronted by an angry Gator, but he is able to beat him in a fight. Murdoc continues leading the attack on the town, while Gator retreats after being threatened with death. Murdoc is not seen again following this encounter. He later attacks a village of innocent people with his followers, including Riptail and Eddie. He takes multitudes of them down into the sewers with him, where he performs several heinous acts on them and orders Killer and Two-Toed Tom (a giant gator monster he formed an alliance with) to guard them. Shortly after the act was performed, Murdoc orders his followers to keep an eye on the prisoners while he goes to take a nap, which the two crocodilians accept. Later, Killer reports a prisoner missing. Murdoc is irritated at this news and goes to check it out. To his anger, he reads the note left behind of the prisoner and decides to pursue him. He once again orders Killer and Two-Toed Tom to keep a sharp eye on the other prisoners to make sure they cannot escape, before he and his other henchmen go to Georgia to pursue the missing prisoner. After returning, Murdoc orders Two-Toed Tom to search for Alligator in the sewers. The monstrous "demon" alligator finds nothing of the former until he discovers Alligator's identity, and prepares to attack him. Murdoc himself then arrives, ordering Tom to leave Alligator to himself. As their battle is taken onto the streets, Alligator signals for a herd of animals from the zoo he had allied with to charge forward. As Murdoc turns and looks on in horror, the animals from the zoo, circus, and even the Museum run straight into Murdoc and trample over him, fatally injuring the great crocodile in the process. Murdoc is last seen alive telling Alligator that his plan, despite his oncoming death, is far from over, and also tells Killer to take his place as the leader of the Crocodile Army that he had been the leader of for a short while. He then painfully passes away as Killer watches with sorrow; even Alligator begins feeling remorse for Murdoc, which he previously lacked. Despite his death, Murdoc's dark personality would forever leave something of a hole in Alligator's soul due to the fact that the giant crocodile had been a large problem for him ever since he first arrived in the sewers. Remembering how badly he was taunted for his insecurities as well, Alligator would never forget Murdoc after his demise, as Killer and all of Murdoc's (now previous) minions redeem themselves. Trivia * Murdoc shares some character traits with Dil from The Land Before Time: Journey Through the Mists for a number of reasons: ** They are both crocodiles with red eyes and huge sizes. Murdoc is a male modern-day saltwater crocodile, however, while Dil is a female prehistoric Deinosuchus. ** They both have a villainous role in the story they appear in. ** They are both partnered up with a bird in at least partial factors of the stories they appear in. However, the difference here is that while Dil is always partnered with Ichy, Murdoc is partnered with Rave in the Asylum series only, whereas in Sewer Life, Rave is absent and Murdoc is at first alone, but later partnered with Eddie the water dragon. They would later, however, recruit an army of crocodiles. *** Another difference is that while Ichy and Dil have something of a "frenemy" status, Murdoc and all of his allies have a flawless relationship. ** They are both elderly characters. * Murdoc is also similar to Gustave the Crocodile from mostly real-life but also stars in the films Capturing the Killer Croc and in the 2007 fictional film Primeval: ** Both of them are giant male crocodiles. ** Both of them are well-known and feared for their accomplishments over their years of being alive. ** Both of them are the main antagonists in their respective roles. The only difference is that while Murdoc is capable of speaking, Gustave is not. However, Gustave is intelligent, as is Murdoc, as he was watching everything that his hunters were trying to do to catch him and he evaded them, while Murdoc eavesdropped on everything and learned that way. ** Both of them secretly observe private activity. While Murdoc listens to things happening and sometimes watches with his eyes, Gustave has a watchful eye over everything that goes on around him and for that reason is smart enough to avoid what he is seeing. * Murdoc was named after the virtual member of the band Gorillaz that formed in 1998. * Murdoc's personality and appearance is a dark parallel to that of Alligator. While Alligator is more light-colored and therefore more generous and benevolent, Murdoc has darker colors and a more sinister, evil and malicious feel to his personality. In fact, his darker color scheme, doubled size, overall more menacing look, and evil personality was made to directly mirror Alligator, and it also shows the reader of the story series what Alligator would've become had he let his selflessness get the better of him. * Murdoc was, in early concepts, not a crocodile, but rather a frog who wanted to take over the entirety of the sewers with the aid of a dimwitted tortoise, and would not have been the brightest villain ever; as such, he wasn't regarded as pure evil, just someone who needed to be gotten rid of, and he would have ended up getting eaten by Alligator in the end. ** Of course, this edition of the story was dropped because it was considered to be too dark. * It is unknown how Murdoc's eyes, which are naturally a dark shade of red in color, are capable of glowing brighter red colors. However, this is likely something paranormal that was included in the draft of the story. ** Additionally, the Messie sewer monster has glowing eyes, therefore possibly concluding that it is a result of coming into contact with something paranormal. ** It is also possible that this is a result of pure fiction, as glowing eyes is a trait obviously not found in crocodilian eyes (unless one looks at a crocodile or alligator via a flashlight, though this is not counted as a result of a light being shined at them instead of coming from their eyes). ** Another thing to note is that while Messie has occasionally been reported in England as a cryptid in real life (occasionally spotted in the sewers; whether this is pure coincidence or not is unknown), he is listed as a fictional species by the Story Guide for the Sewer Life series, and therefore is free to have eyes that can glow in the dark, Murdoc not being much different. *** However, in real life it is possible that the "glowing eyes" effect may just be from a flashlight being shined at the creature, and it reflects back towards them, even though this is not proven. ** However, it is most likely pure fiction, as previously mentioned. * Murdoc is the only crocodilian to have glowing eyes in any known fictional film or story. * The author of the story originally decided on keeping Murdoc alive, as he had motivations to rule Florida, but eventually decided that he had to die. His original death would have been far more gruesome than it is now; after Alligator defeated Murdoc, he would have been hurled down a hill into a swamp where another giant crocodile confronted and eventually ate him. However, the idea was scrapped because it was too dark. * Due to his ability to speak to humans and other animals, Murdoc is anthropomorphic, but he cannot walk on two legs due to his age. Category:Crocodilians Category:Male Reptiles Category:Talking Reptiles Category:Carnivorous Reptiles Category:Antagonistic Reptiles Category:Reptiles Category:Old Reptiles Category:Reptiles by status Category:Aquatic Reptiles Category:Man-Eaters Category:Adult Reptiles Category:Unknown status Category:Evil Reptiles Category:Deceased Reptiles Category:Anthropomorphic Reptiles Category:Reincarnated Reptiles